Chapter 5 - GRANDMA RUTH ASKED TO SEE THE DRESS
Scott arrived after dark.
He parked down the street instead of in my driveway.
That alone told me how bad things had become inside his marriage.
Luke let him in.
Scott looked as if he hadn’t slept.
He placed the brown envelope on my kitchen table.
Mom was there.
Grandma too.
I had not invited Dad or Paige.
Scott looked at Mom first.
“Ellen, I’m sorry.”
Mom tightened her sweater around herself.
“For what?”
He opened the envelope.
Inside were photocopies of checks.
Bank statements.
A handwritten budget.
And one document that made my mother sit down.
Eight months earlier, Dad had transferred twenty-five thousand dollars from a joint savings account into an account Mom had never seen.
From there, several payments went out.
Six thousand to Dean’s construction company.
Three thousand five hundred to a plumbing subcontractor.
Twenty-eight hundred to an equipment rental company.
And thousands more in withdrawals.
Mom stared at the papers.
“I never approved this.”
Scott nodded.
“I figured.”
“How did Paige have these?”
“They were in our filing cabinet.”
Mom looked at him.
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because Richard had been giving her money.”
My mother’s face crumpled.
Scott continued.
“Our financial problems are real. But not for the reason Paige told everyone.”
I could barely breathe.
“What happened?”
Scott rubbed both hands over his face.
“A year ago, Paige started an online home-decor business.”
I remembered.
Everyone did.
Paige had filled Facebook with photographs of luxury candles, designer-looking throw pillows, subscription boxes, and captions about “financial independence.”
“She told me it was profitable,” Scott said.
“It wasn’t?”
“She lost almost thirty thousand dollars.”
Grandma whispered, “Dear God.”
“I didn’t know until December.”
“And Dad?” I asked.
“Knew before I did.”
Of course he did.
Scott laughed without humor.
“Paige borrowed from him to keep it going. Then she used credit cards. Then she stopped paying part of our rent because she thought she could catch up after Christmas.”
Mom covered her mouth.
“That’s why your landlord—”
“No. Our landlord really is selling. That part is true.”
Scott nodded toward the papers.
“But we could have rented somewhere else if Paige hadn’t drained our savings.”
I thought about the duplex I had offered to help them rent.
“We offered to cover the deposit.”
“I know.”
“She told me you refused because it was charity.”
Scott looked ashamed.
“She told me you offered a rundown apartment forty minutes away.”
My anger flared.
“That’s a lie.”
“I know that now.”
Mom leaned back.
“So Richard decided to build them a house on Claire’s property.”
Scott nodded.
“He told Paige once it was finished, Claire would get over it.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Grandma Ruth slowly stood.
“I want to see Lily’s dress.”
The request seemed so unrelated that Scott blinked.
“What?”
Grandma looked at me.
“The dress.”
I took it from the laundry room.
We had cleaned what we could.
The lower half remained stained rust-red.
One section near the hip was torn.
Grandma spread it across the kitchen table directly over Dad’s bank statements.
Everyone stared.
Grandma placed one arthritic finger beside the torn seam.
“I spent twenty-seven evenings making this.”
Her voice was quiet.
“I know because I marked them on my calendar so I wouldn’t overwork my hands.”
Mom began crying.
Grandma looked at Scott.
“I don’t blame your sons for all of this.”
He nodded, eyes wet.
“They were wrong.”
“Yes.”
“They hurt Lily.”
“Yes.”
“But children learn what adults teach them.”
Scott looked down.
Grandma continued.
“Somebody taught those boys that Claire’s studio already belonged to them.”
Scott whispered, “Paige.”
“Somebody taught Paige that if Claire said no long enough, Richard could make her yes disappear.”
Nobody answered.
Then Grandma looked at my mother.
“And somebody taught Richard that money means ownership over people.”
Mom wiped her face.
Grandma rested her hand over the bank statement.
“I think we have all helped teach him that.”
Those words stayed with me.
Because she was right.
Dad had done terrible things.
But every time he pushed too far, somebody had smoothed things over.
Mom cried.
Paige yelled.
I eventually surrendered.
Grandma changed the subject.
Dad learned that discomfort was temporary.
His authority was permanent.
Until now.
Scott left around ten.
Before he did, he stopped at the door.
“I want Mason and Miles to apologize to Lily.”
“Not yet.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want Paige coaching them into saying words they don’t understand.”
He nodded.
“That’s fair.”
After he left, Mom remained at the table.
Then she said:
“I’m leaving your father.”
I stared at her.
Grandma did too.
Mom shook her head quickly.
“I don’t know if I mean forever.”
“You don’t have to decide tonight,” I said.
“I need somewhere to stay.”
“You can stay here.”
She looked toward the backyard.
“No.”
“Mom.”
“I love you. But this house is already the center of everything. I need somewhere that doesn’t belong to Richard, you, Paige or anybody else.”
Grandma reached across the table.
“Come stay with me.”
Mom laughed through her tears.
“Your guest room has seventeen quilts stacked on the bed.”
“Then we’ll move sixteen.”
For the first time in days, all three of us laughed.
The next afternoon, while Luke was at work and Lily was at school, I heard someone knock.
When I opened the door, Mason stood alone on my porch.
Paige’s nine-year-old son.
His bike lay in the grass.
His eyes were red.
“Mason?”
He looked behind him as if afraid someone had followed.
Then he held out something in his fist.
Lily’s lavender ribbon.
“I lied.”
I didn’t speak.
His chin trembled.
“Miles didn’t pull the tarp.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who did?”
He started crying.
“I did.”
I opened the door wider.
May you like
Then Mason whispered:
“But Mom told us Lily was trying to steal our house.”
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